The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-03-16

ton, very rapidly. and in short time the
wreck was surrounded by an immense
crowd, attracted by its curiosity or in
search of relatives and friends, while
every train to the vicinity of the wreck
was crowded with curious people. The
scenes Just after the disaster were harrow
ing in the extreme. The groans and
shrieks of the injured people were heard
by the residents in the neighboring houses,
of which there were number iD the i'm
mediate vicinity. The only person known
to have been an eyewitness of the disaster,
who was not on the train, was j. H. Len
non, a fish dealer, whose stable was on the
barnessing his team when the train
came along, and turned to see it
pass. He was borror-stricken when
he saw the train take it's awful plunge
through the bridge. For a moment Len
non says, there was perfect quiet and then
the cries of the I'M ured were heard issuing
from the debris. Seizing an ak from the
barn Lennon started for the wreck, which
he reached in moment. He climbed into
a window of one of the coaches that had
landed against the stone wall, and set to
work to release those persons who had been
pinned down by the broken timbers. Len
non with his ak released four men who
were badly hurt, and handed them out of
the window to others who had come to the
rescue. He also handed out the dead bodies
of two women, one of whom was nearly de-
cspitated and bad both arms severed from
her body. During all this time, Lennon
says, the
sHRIEKs OF THE WOUNDED AND eRoANs OF
THE DYING
made pandemonium around him that was
nothing short of horrible. In the meantime
other passengers from the coaches that had
I'M aG on 0f hn hQr M
who had escaped serious injuries had
joined in the work of rescue. The engine
had remained on the track and had pro-
ceeded at once to Forest Hill station, where
the engineer sent out an alarm by tele-
phone to this city. In short time a corps
of rescuers and surgeons from the city were
at the scene. AS the dead were removed
they were laid in a row on the stone wall,
while the wounded were laid on cushions
which were hastily gathered together. Ar
rangements were instantly made fer the
disposal of both the killed and injured.
Ambulances and hacks had been sent from
the city within half an hour after the dis
aster occurred, and as these conveyances
reached the scene they were at once started
back to the city laden with dead bound
TO the city morgue or with in
jured destined for the City or Massachu-
setts General Hospitals. A large number OF
the injured were also taken to residences
in the vicinity to be cared for, while others
were sent to the depots at Forest Hill and
Roslyndale. Those passengers who escaped
serious injury and were able to proceed
were taken to the junction at Forest Hill
and then forwarded to their destination IN
the city proper.
By the time the first regular passenger
train from the city had reached the scene
laden with anxious or curious people
nothing could be seen but the
sPLINTERED AND SHATTERED CARS
lying on the embankment or in the road
way. AL of the dead and injured had
been removed to the morgue, hospitals
depots or residences, and the survivors
had also all disappeared.
The railroad officials did all in their
power to give information to inquiries after
news and to friends or relatives seeking in
formation as to the fate of their loved ones.
The scenes at the Providence station in
this city this morning were peculiarly
touching. The depot was crowded with
people, many of whom were women, and
nearly all seemed to have some vital inter
est in the fate of some one whom they
were sure must have been on the train.
Women were crying and sobbing and fore
ing their way through the throng, plying
first one official and then another with
questions. There were men, too, in the
crowd who shed tears, perhaps as much
from sympathy with the great distress of
so many women as from sorrow in their
own behalf. 1t was no uncommon thing
to hear women ask If such or such per-
son had been killed, and when answered,
Il can not tell, man." they would burst
out crying, lamenting and exclaiming that
they knew their friends were dead.
PASSENGERS STORY.
Mr.. George Sanford, of Roslyndale, was
in the second car OF the wrecked train, and
tells thrilling story of his experience He
said: 81 took the train at Roslyndale with
my mother. We were sitting in the mid
die car. There was absolutely nothing to
give premonition of the disaster. All at
once there was crash, deafening noise,
a moment or two of the grinding of tim
bers, and then for a moment all was still.
1t had come with such awful suddenness
that everybody seemed paralyzed. Then
arose a confusion of sounds from the
wrecked cars below. Voices were calling
out for help; women were screaming for
aid, while all around us there were groans
from those who were badly hurt or dying.
The floor OF one car seemed to be forced up
to the roof. the entire coach having COL
lapsed apparently. When the crash came
our heads were banged against the roof,
while the seats were strewn about every
where. Many people were under the seats,
and some were crushed between them. Di-
rectly in front of US sat a man named
Ryan, one of my neighbors in Roslyndale
We were conversiDg with him at the mo-
ment of the crash. Ryan was half-turned
in his seat as he talked, and the moment
after the wreck, when / saw him again, he
was actually
Run THROUGH AND THROUGH
by splinters from the bottom of the car.
My mother and we're fastened in between
our seat and Ryan's, but l managed to
break off Ryan's seat and release ourselves.
MY mother had tainted and at first 1
thought she was dead. 1 pulled her out
through window and she soon revived in
the open air. | then secured q carriage
and sent her home and devoted myself to
helping release the imprisoned passengers.
The sight among the debris in the roadway
was horrible. There were many people
dead, pinned down by timbers, and many
wounded. All were horribly mangled. /
saw one man working like Trojan TO help
others. The top of his scalp and his left
ear were nearly torn from his head and he
was covered with blood, but he did not
realize it. After all had been removed
from the car he was working in, some one
told him that he must be badly hurt him.
SELF He said he thought not; that he had
received only a scratch. He put his hand
to his head and the next moment tainted
away and was conveyed to a neighboring
hnT1ca a Uo hoHIu hr1rf Ia